Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangzhou 510640, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy Research and Development, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangzhou 510640, China; School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, No. 100 Waihuan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy Research and Development, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 May 15;665:882-889. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.082. Epub 2019 Feb 6.
Modifying the surface of an anode can improve electron transfer, thus enhancing the performance of the associated bioelectrochemical system. In this study, a porous N-doped carbon cloth electrode was obtained via a simple thermal reduction and etching treatment, and then used as the anode in a bioelectrochemical system. The electrode has a high nitrogen-to‑carbon (N/C) ratio (~3.9%) and a large electrochemically active surface area (145.4 cm, about 4.4 times higher than that of the original carbon cloth), which increases the bacterial attachment and provides more active sites for extracellular electron transfer. Electrochemical characterization reveals that the peak anodic current (0.71 mA) of the porous N-doped carbon cloth electrode in riboflavin is 18 times higher than that of the original carbon cloth electrode (0.04 mA), confirming the presence of more electroactive sites for the redox reaction. We also obtained a maximum current density of 0.29 mA/cm during operation of a bioelectrochemical system featuring the porous N-doped carbon cloth electrode, which is 14.5 times higher than that of the original carbon cloth electrode. This result demonstrates that the adoption of our new electrode is a viable strategy for boosting the performance of bioelectrochemical systems.
修饰阳极的表面可以改善电子转移，从而提高相关生物电化学系统的性能。在这项研究中，通过简单的热还原和蚀刻处理得到了一种多孔氮掺杂碳布电极，然后将其用作生物电化学系统中的阳极。该电极具有高氮碳比（~3.9%）和大的电化学活性表面积（145.4 cm，比原始碳布高约 4.4 倍），这增加了细菌的附着并为细胞外电子转移提供了更多的活性位点。电化学特性表明，在核黄素中，多孔氮掺杂碳布电极的峰值阳极电流（0.71 mA）比原始碳布电极（0.04 mA）高 18 倍，这证实了氧化还原反应存在更多的电活性位点。在采用多孔氮掺杂碳布电极的生物电化学系统中，我们还获得了 0.29 mA/cm 的最大电流密度，比原始碳布电极高 14.5 倍。这一结果表明，采用我们的新电极是提高生物电化学系统性能的一种可行策略。
